Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2020) 27:2773–2785

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07241-0

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Ecological security assessment of Chaohu Lake Basin of China

in the context of River Chief System reform
Yunshu Tang 1 & Xiaoyu Zhao 1 & Jianling Jiao 1

Received: 12 October 2019 / Accepted: 2 December 2019 / Published online: 13 December 2019
# Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019

Abstract
In the face of the increasingly severe water environment, establishing an effective water environment management mechanism is
a major concern of governments around the world. The River Chief System attempts to match water environment management to
the performance of the main leaders of the local party and government and represents an institutional innovation to solve the
problem of river and lake management in China. However, there is still a lack of systematic research on the performance of the
River Chief System and how to promote its overall effectiveness. This paper took Chaohu Lake Basin, with a concentrated and
complicated water environment, as the research object and divided it into eastern and western halves. The water ecological
security before and after the implementation of the River Chief System was comprehensively evaluated, and the obstacles to
ecological security were diagnosed. The implementation effect of the River Chief System and the weak links of the corresponding
river chiefs’ work performance were analyzed. The results show the following: (1) Since the implementation of the River Chief
System in 2013, the overall water ecological security of Chaohu Lake Basin has been raised from the lower limit to the upper limit
of the generally healthy category, initially reflecting the effect of the River Chief System. (2) For the eastern half of the lake, the
threat to water ecological security mainly comes from the development of industry. Industrial water use intensity is the primary
obstacle to the ecological security of the eastern half of the lake in recent years. (3) For the western half of the lake, the threat to
water ecological security mainly comes from the process of urbanization. The wetland area, urban domestic water use intensity,
and artificial afforestation area are the main factors hindering the ecological security of the western half of the lake. The above
analysis results can be used as the basis for future work to improve the performance of the relevant river chiefs in Chaohu Lake
Basin.

Keywords The River Chief System . Water ecological security evaluation . Chaohu Lake Basin . PSR model . Obstacle factor
analysis

Introduction for their governments (e.g., Government of Australia 2010;

Water is one of the basic factors for human survival and de-
velopment (Su et al. 2016; Pan et al. 2019; Calone et al. 2019).
The health of rivers and lakes is vital to the survival of man-
kind (Alvarez et al. 2018; Alver 2019). All countries in the
world are actively taking measures to make water resource
protection and water environment management priority issues
Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues
* Yunshu Tang
ystang@hfut.edu.cn
1
School of Management, Hefei university of technology, No. 193,
Tunxi Road, Hefei 230009, Anhui, China
Government of UK 2016). As a developing country, China
has experienced decades of rapid industrialization that have
made the problems of water resource shortages, water ecolog-
ical damage, and serious water pollution in rivers and lakes
very prominent, and the ecological security of rivers and lakes
is worrying (Wang and Yang 2016; Yu et al. 2018).
Because the management of rivers and lakes involves the
upper and lower reaches, left and right banks, and different
administrative regions and industries, the related goals and
demands of local governments are different, and local govern-
ments make their plans independently. Therefore, in the pro-
cess of water environment management, countries around the
world have generally strengthened the unified management of
rivers and lakes. According to the classification by organiza-
tion and task, there are three watershed management modes:
2774
watershed authority, watershed coordination committees, and
watershed committees (Xu and Wang 2017). The Tennessee
Valley Authority in the USA (TVA), the Murray-Darling
Basin Committee in Australia (MDBC), and the Great Lakes
Commission (GLC) in the USA are typical representatives of
the above three modes. Although these three watershed man-
agement modes are not the same, they all consider the natural
resource conditions, economic, and social development level
of the river basin and have achieved certain success, providing
an important reference for water resource management in river
basins. Similar watershed management institutions have also
been widely established around the world (Kampa et al.
2016).
China has long implemented the model of combining uni-
fied management with grading and subdepartment manage-
ment for river and lake resources. This model of water control,
in which every actor has responsibility but the distribution of
responsibilities and powers is unclear, aggravates the waste of
water resources and water environment pollution (Li and Li
2018; Sun 2018). The Water Law of the People’s Republic of
China, revised by the Chinese government in 2002, clearly
states that the water resources management system should
be transformed into a system that combines watershed man-
agement with administrative regions. However, in specific
watershed management, due to the unclear responsibilities
and lack of detailed supporting regulations, the administrative
law enforcement of watershed agencies is difficult, and the
ecological environmental problems of rivers and lakes are
becoming increasingly prominent. In 2007, a large outbreak
of blue-green algae in Taihu Lake of Wuxi resulted in the
pollution of tap water, and Wuxi took the lead in
implementing the River Chief System nationwide. In the
River Chief System, the river chief, who is the main person
in charge of the party and government at all levels in China, is
responsible for organizing and leading the management and
protection of corresponding rivers and lakes. The essence of
the River Chief System is to match the management of the
water environment to the performance of the main leaders of
the local party and government. The implementation of the
River Chief System enables the model of “department in
charge” to move forward to the model of “chief in charge,
department co-governance,” which is a new transformation
of the logic and governance mode of rivers and lakes gover-
nance in China. After Wuxi, this innovation system of river
and lake management with Chinese characteristics began to be
implemented in other provinces and cities. Chaohu Lake is
one of the five freshwater lakes in China, and the basin is a
typical basin where water problems are concentrated and com-
plex. President Xi Jinping pointed out that “Anhui Province
must comprehensively manage Chaohu Lake well” in 2011. In
2013, Hefei, the capital city of Anhui Province, implemented
the River Chief System, assigning the responsibility of rivers
emptying into the lake to different people to solve the water
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020) 27:2773–2785
environment problem of Chaohu Lake Basin. River chiefs
were set up in the cities, counties, and districts where rivers
and lakes are located. As a target responsibility system, the
key to implementing the River Chief System is to evaluate the
performance of the river chief and bring the evaluation results
into the comprehensive evaluation of local government lead-
ing cadres, which can alleviate the destruction of the ecolog-
ical environment caused by local governments’ blind pursuit
of GDP (the aggregated gross domestic product) (Song et al.
2019). However, the relevant assessment methods of the River
Chief System are still in the exploration stage, and the assess-
ment of river chiefs’ performance has not been fully imple-
mented. In this context, it is necessary to evaluate the imple-
mentation effect of the River Chief System, analyze the ob-
stacles to the implementation, and promote the River Chief
System to change from “form” to “real”.
Scholars in China and internationally have carried out
much research on watershed ecological security. Ladson
et al. (1999), Kane et al. (2009), and Gal et al .(2017) proposed
an index of stream condition, planktonic index of biotic
integrity, and sustainability index to measure the health of
lake ecosystems. In practice, Schneider (2013) classified
freshwater resources into blue, green, and grey, providing
new insights into water resource security and water resource
management. Veettil and Mishra (2016) applied the concepts
of blue water footprint and green water footprint (Hoekstra
Arjen and Mekonnen Mesfin 2012; Rodrigues et al. 2014) to
study the spatial-temporal change of the water footprint in
basins and conducted a quantitative evaluation of the water
security in basins. Specifically considering Chaohu Lake
Basin, Shang and Shang (2007) discussed the main reasons
for eutrophication in the lake and the spatial and temporal
variations of eutrophication in its western part and found
that the state of eutrophication is more serious in the western
part than in the eastern part. Wang et al. (2011) used cluster
analysis to divide the tributaries of Chaohu Lake into urban
pollution control rivers, soil and water conservation control
rivers, and nonpoint source pollution control rivers and
found that urban pollution control rivers accounted for the
largest total pollution load of all inflow rivers. Yu et al.
(2011) used heterogeneous environmental methods to assess
the trophic state of the lake and identified pollution sources of
Chaohu Lake Basin. The eutrophication level of eastern
Chaohu Lake was affected by both natural conditions and
anthropogenic activities, while the eutrophication level of
western Chaohu Lake was mainly affected by anthropogenic
activities, such as domestic sewage and industrial and
nonpoint pollution. The above studies mainly focus on the
impact on water ecological security of a certain aspect of the
ecosystem, and the research perspective is relatively simple.
In addition, Tian et al. (2011) and Zhao et al. (2012) proposed
an ecological security evaluation framework model and eval-
uation index system based on Chaohu Lake Basin. However,
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020) 27:2773–2785
the construction of evaluation indicators mainly considered
the natural attributes of the basin, and comprehensive consid-
eration of the natural, economic, and social conditions of the
whole basin is insufficient.
The PSR (pressure-state-response) model is an evalua-
tion model commonly used for ecosystem health evalua-
tion. It was proposed by Tony Friend and David Rapport
and has been widely applied to ecological security assess-
ment after being revised by the International Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (Meyar-
Naimi and Vaez-zadeh 2012). For example, Bricker
et al. (2003) described an integrated methodology for
the Assessment of Estuarine Trophic Status, which may
be applied comparatively to rank the eutrophication status
of estuaries and coastal areas and to address management
options. The PSR model takes into account the influence
of natural, social, economic, and other factors on ecolog-
ical security and can clearly show the relationship be-
tween the final results of environmental management ac-
tivities (state) and the motivations that affect the results
(pressure and response) (Hu and Xu 2019), reflecting the
balance and interaction between various departments (Li
2014). It provides a systematic idea and framework for
evaluating the effect of the River Chief System and the
performance of river chiefs from different dimensions.
Based on the PSR model, this paper highlights indicators
that can reflect the performance of the river chiefs’ re-
sponsibility, such as the comprehensive soil erosion con-
trol area and water conservancy law enforcement supervi-
sion expenditure, divides Chaohu Lake Basin into the
eastern and western halves, makes a comprehensive eval-
uation of the water ecological security before and after the
implementation of the River Chief System, and diagnoses
the obstacles that hinder the water ecological security of
Chaohu Lake Basin. Furthermore, we analyze the imple-
mentation effect of the River Chief System and the weak
links of the corresponding river chiefs’ work. The analysis
results can be the basis for the improvement of the work
of the corresponding river chiefs. The innovations of this
paper are as follows: (1) it focuses on the evaluation and
improvement of the effect of the water environment man-
agement mechanism of the River Chief System,
expanding the research perspective of environmental pol-
icy; (2) it constructs an evaluation index of the water
ecological security of river and lake system based on the
PSR model, highlighting the relevant indicators that can
reflect the performance of the river chiefs’ responsibility;
and (3) the results regarding river management systems
can not only provide a reference for the implementation
and management of the River Chief System in other re-
gions but also be extended and applied in the field of air,
soil, and other aspects of environmental governance, with
good universality.
2775
This paper is structured as follows. The next section pro-
vides materials and methods of the study. The third section
presents the results. The discussion is shown in the fourth
section. The final section presents the conclusion and policy
implication.
Materials and methods
Study area
Located in the central part of Anhui Province, Chaohu Lake
Basin is an important water system downstream of the
Yangtze River. The terrain is long from east to west, short
from north to south, high in the west, and low in the east
and middle, and lake area is named for its shape like a bird’s
nest. The drainage area is 13,486 km2. It is one of China’s five
major freshwater lakes, a birthplace of Chinese civilization, an
important area of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the core
area of the Wanjiang Urban Belt, and the country’s first dem-
onstration zone for ecological civilization construction. Since
1996, Chaohu Lake Basin has been listed as one of the “Three
Rivers and Three Lakes” in national water pollution preven-
tion and control. The location of Chaohu Lake Basin is shown
in Fig. 1.
Due to the differences in regional economic development
and population number between the tributaries of Chaohu
Lake Basin in the east and west basins, this paper takes
Zhongmiao, Mushan, and Qitouzui1 as the boundary and di-
vides Chaohu Lake Basin into eastern and western halves for
water ecological security assessment and obstacle analysis.
Among them, the western half of the lake covers Feidong
County (D1), Baohe District (D2), Feixi County (D3), and
Lujiang County (D4) in Hefei City. There are seven tributaries
in the lake: Dianbu River (R1), Nanfei River (R2), Shiwuli
River (R3), Pai River (R4), Fengle River (R5), Hangbu River
(R6), and Baishitian River (R7). The eastern half of the lake
area covers Chaohu City2 (D5) and Lujiang County (D4).
There are two tributaries in the lake: Zhao River (R8) and
Zhegao River (R9), and the only outgoing tributary is the
Yuxi River (R10) in the downstream. The division of
Chaohu Lake Basin and its tributaries distribution are shown
in Fig. 2.
At present, provincial, municipal, county (district), and
township levels of the River Chief System have been
established in Chaohu Lake Basin. To analyze the perfor-
mance of the River Chief System at different levels and deter-
mine the key points for future work of the corresponding river
1
This is based on the division of the Chaohu Lake by the Chaohu
Administration.
2
Chaohu city is a prefecture-level city under the jurisdiction of Hefei city,
namely, it belongs to the county-level city.
2776
Fig. 1 Location of Chaohu Lake
Basin
chiefs, based on the characteristics of Chaohu Lake Basin and
the corresponding River Chief System settings, the results of
ecological security assessment in different regions of Chaohu
Lake Basin are matched to the management performance of
the corresponding river chiefs at different levels:(1) the
municipal-level chief of Chaohu Lake Basin is currently the
main leader of Hefei City and the direct chief-in-charge; there-
fore, the municipal-level chief’s work performance can be
directly evaluated according to the overall improvement of
the ecological security of the Chaohu Lake Basin after the
implementation of the River Chief System; in addition, as
one of the important lakes in Anhui Province, the effective
governance of Chaohu Lake Basin constitutes an important
part of the performance of the provincial-level river chief and
can be used as a basis to evaluate the indirect management
performance of the provincial-level chief. (2) Chaohu Lake
Basin covers a wide area, and the administrative areas along
the shoreline have county (district)-level river chiefs.
Therefore, the improvement of the water ecological security
status of the eastern and western halves of the lake can be used
as the basis for evaluating the performance of the river chiefs
in each half of the lake. (3) Considering the pollution of the
water bodies in the Chaohu Lake Basin area by the tributaries
Fig. 2 Division and tributaries
distribution of Chaohu Lake
Basin
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020) 27:2773–2785
of the lake, the changes in the water ecological security status
of each half of the lake can also be used as the basis for
evaluating the performance of the river chiefs at the county
(district) and the township levels. The results of ecological
security assessment of Chaohu Lake Basin and the corre-
sponding management performance of river chiefs are shown
in the Table 1.
Theoretical model and indicator system
The principle and mechanism of the PSR model
from the perspective of the River Chief System
The PSR model is based on the pressure of human activi-
ties on the environment and the state of natural resources
affected by human activities. From the view of the current
state of the target indicators, the reasons for influencing the
current state of the indicators were analyzed, and relevant
indicators that can improve the current state were con-
structed (Huang 2016). Combined with the specific situa-
tion of Chaohu Lake Basin, the PSR model mainly shows
the situation of the basin ecosystem under the interaction
of humans and nature: in the process of rapid economic
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020) 27:2773–2785 2777

Table 1 Evaluation results of water ecological security in Chaohu Lake Basin and the management performance of the corresponding river chiefs

Results of ecological security Direct correspondence to river chief management Indirect correspondence to river chief management performance
evaluation performance

Chaohu Lake as a whole Municipal-level river chief of Hefei in the Chaohu Provincial river chief
Lake Basin
Western half of the lake County-level river chiefs of Feidong (D1) in the County, township level river chiefs of Dianbu River (R1)
Chaohu Lake Basin
District-level river chiefs of Baohe (D2) in the County, township level river chiefs of Nanfei River (R2) and
Chaohu Lake Basin Shiwuli River (R3)
County-level river chiefs of Feixi (D3) in the Chaohu County, township level river chiefs of Pai River (R4) and Fengle
Lake Basin River (R5)
County-level river chiefs of Lujiang (D4) in the County, township level river chiefs of Hangbu River (R6) and
Chaohu Lake Basin Baishitian River (R7)
Eastern half of the lake County-level river chiefs of Lujianga (D4) in the County, township level river chiefs of Zhao River (R8)
Chaohu Lake Basin
County-level river chiefs of Chaohu (D5) in the County, township level river chiefs of Zhegao River (R9)
Chaohu Lake Basin
a
Because Lujiang county (D4) straddles both halves of the lake, the ecological security evaluation results of both halves constitute the management
performance of the river chiefs in Lujiang county (D4)

development and urbanization, cities in the basin have ob-
tained a large number of resources from nature and
discharged waste into the environment, which has placed
pressure on the water ecological environment and changed
the quality of the water ecological environment. The direct
manifestation is that Chaohu Lake Basin has suffered from
serious water pollution, deterioration of water quality, fre-
quent occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms, sharp de-
creases in wetland area, and serious eutrophication of wa-
ter in recent years. In response to the challenges of envi-
ronmental problems, relevant departments have taken mea-
sures such as promulgating corresponding environmental
protection laws and regulations and increasing water pol-
lution control. These measures have reduced environmen-
tal pressure to a certain extent, thereby improving the en-
vironmental status of water resources. Conversely, when
the pressure on the water resource environment increases
and the environmental protection measures of relevant de-
partments are not effective, the state of the water resource
environment deteriorates, thus forming a feedback mecha-
nism of mutual influence and interaction. The dynamic
evolution process of the PSR model for water ecological
security in the Chaohu Lake Basin is shown in Fig. 3.
The ecological security evaluation index system of Chaohu
Lake Basin under the River Chief System is constructed in this
paper. The index system consists of three hierarchies. The
objective layer is the water ecological security of the eastern
(western) half of the lake, the pressure-state-response layer is
the criterion layer, and the index layer includes 26 specific
indicators. Specifically, the pressure index includes I1–I18,
reflecting the burden on the water environment caused by
degradation of the natural environment and human activities.
The state index includes I19–I21 and reflects the water quality
of Chaohu Lake Basin. The response index indicates the mea-
sures taken by relevant departments to improve the water en-
vironment, including the 5 indicators of I22-I26. The specific
indicators are selected as follows:
(1) Pressure indicators. The threat to the ecological security
of rivers and lakes comes from the interaction of human
beings and nature. With rapid urbanization, the distur-
bance and destruction of human activities play a leading
role in pressure indicators. Therefore, energy consump-
tion per unit of GDP, natural population growth rate,
population urbanization rate, industrial and agricultural
water use intensity, and urban domestic water use inten-
sity are selected as the main indexes of artificial pressure.
Considering that excessive chemical oxygen demand is
the main cause of eutrophication in Chaohu Lake Basin,
chemical oxygen demand discharge, ammonia nitrogen
discharge from industrial wastewater (domestic sewage),
and nitrogen (phosphate) fertilizer usage are selected as
pressure indicators affecting water quality. Due to the
relatively small impact of natural driving factors on
short-term ecological security evaluation, total water re-
sources, wetland area, and annual precipitation are se-
lected as natural pressure indicators.
(2) State indicators. The state refers to the physical and
chemical state of the lake ecosystem, which is mainly
reflected in water quality. Considering that the total
phosphorus and total nitrogen in Chaohu Lake Basin
are high and the eutrophication of the water bodies is
serious, the comprehensive nutrient status index and total
nitrogen (phosphorus) content of the eastern (western)
half of the lake are used as a measure of water quality
and the effect of the river chief governance performance.
2778 Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020) 27:2773–2785

Fig. 3 PSR model of water ecological security in the Chaohu Lake Basin

(3) Response indicators. The selection of response indicators the amount of information itself (Lu et al. 2016). More infor-
emphasizes the positive response of the river chiefs and mation in a certain index indicates a larger influence, while a
relevant departments to water ecological security. To re- smaller entropy value denotes a smaller degree of disorder in
flect the situation of river chiefs’ compliance with re- the system. The main calculation steps follow.
sponsibilities, vegetation coverage rate, artificial affores- Assume that the evaluation object has m evaluation years
tation area, comprehensive soil erosion control area, cen- and n evaluation indicators. The original data matrix is X =
tralized treatment rate of urban sewage, and water con- X(m × n),where i = 1,2,3……m; j = 1,2,3……n.
servancy law enforcement supervision expenditure are First, the standardized treatment of positive and negative
selected as response indicators. indicators is:

0 xij −min x1 j ; x2 j …:; xnj
The evaluation indexes are shown in Table 2. The positive xij ¼   ð1Þ
and negative indicators listed are based on the different effects max x1 j ; x2 j …:; xnj −min x1 j ; x2 j …:; xnj
of the indicators. The positive indicator is the index that the 
0 max x1 j ; x2 j …:; xnj −xij
greater the index value is, the better the water ecological se- xij ¼   ð2Þ
max x1 j ; x2 j …:; xnj −min x1 j ; x2 j …:; xnj
curity is. The negative index is the opposite.
second, calculate the proportion of year i under indicator j;
Determination of index weight X ij
Pij ¼ n ð3Þ
The methods for determining the weight of indicators can be ∑ X ij
i¼1
divided into subjective and objective methods. Subjective
methods mainly include expert evaluation methods and ana- then, calculate the information entropy of the index of item j;
lytic hierarchy processes. Such methods reflect the intention
n   1
of decision makers and are more flexible, but the evaluation e j ¼ −k ∑ Pij ln pij ; k ¼ ; k > 0; e j ≥ 0 ð4Þ
results have strong subjectivity. The objective method mainly i¼1 lnn
includes principal component analysis and entropy weight,
finally, calculate the weight of each index.
which determine the weight based on the relationship between
the data, and the evaluation results are more objective. 1−ei
Considering that Chaohu Lake Basin covers many geograph- ωj ¼ n ð5Þ
ically dispersed regions and aiming to avoid the subjectivity of ∑ ð1−ei Þ
i¼1
other methods, this paper uses the entropy weight method to
determine the weight of each indicator. The weight of each index is shown in Table 2. The pressure
The entropy weight method is based on the principle of layer has the largest weight, followed by the state and the
uncertainty measurement in information theory, and the entro- response layers. According to the weight values of each indi-
py value can reflect the degree of disorder in information and cator shown in Table 2, wetland area, urban domestic water
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020) 27:2773–2785 2779

Table 2 Water ecological security evaluation index system of Chaohu Lake Bain from the perspective of the River Chief System management

Objective layer Criterion layer Index layer Direction Weight

(O) (C1) I1 Total water resource (100 million cubic meters) Positive 0.0560
The ecological security of eastern Pressure index I2 Wetland area (hectare) Positive 0.0851
(western) half of the lake (0.6809)
I3 Annual precipitation (millimeter) Positive 0.0305
I4 Energy consumption per unit of GDP Negative 0.0128
(tons of standard coal)
I5 Natural population growth rate (%) Negative 0.0190
I6 Population urbanization rate (%) Negative 0.0425
I7 Per capita water resource (m3/person) Positive 0.0538
I8 Total chemical oxygen demand emission Negative 0.0189
(10,000 tons)
I9 Chemical oxygen demand discharge from Negative 0.0268
industrial sewage (10,000 tons)
I10 Ammonia nitrogen discharge from industrial Negative 0.0257
wastewater (10,000 tons)
I11Total ammonia nitrogen emission (10,000 tons) Negative 0.0143
I12 Chemical oxygen demand discharge from Negative 0.0274
domestic sewage (10,000 tons)
I13 Ammonia nitrogen discharge from domestic Negative 0.0309
sewage (10,000 tons)
I14 Agricultural water use intensity (%) Negative 0.0408
I15 Urban domestic water use intensity (%) Negative 0.0619
I16 Industrial water use intensity (%) Negative 0.0557
I17 Nitrogen fertilizer usage (10,000 tons) Negative 0.0376
I18 Phosphate fertilizer usage (10,000 tons) Negative 0.0412
(C2) I19 Comprehensive nutrient status index of the Negative 0.0314
State index eastern (western) half of the lake (10,000 tons)
(0.1027) I20 Total nitrogen content of the eastern (western) Negative 0.0427
half of the lake (mg/L)
I21 Total phosphorus content of the eastern Negative 0.0286
(western) half of the lake (mg/L)
(C3) I22 Vegetation coverage rate (%) Positive 0.0272
Response index I23 Artificial afforestation area (hectare) Positive 0.0606
(0.2164)
I24 Comprehensive soil erosion control area positive 0.0550
(1000 ha)
I25 Centralized treatment rate of urban sewage (%) positive 0.0093
I26 Water conservancy law enforcement supervision positive 0.0643
expenditure (ten thousand yuan)

use intensity in the pressure layer, and water conservancy law standardized value of an individual index and 100%, that is,
0 0
enforcement supervision expenditure in the response layer Iij=1-xij , where xij is the normalized value of the index of the
account for a large proportion. index layer. The degree of obstacle yi indicates the impact of
individual indicators on the ecological security status of year i
Method of obstacle factors analysis and data (Zheng et al. 2012; Sun et al. 2014; Kuang et al. 2018). The
collection formula is as follows:
ωi
In the analysis of the obstacles to the water ecological security, yi ¼ I ij  n
ð6Þ
it is necessary to calculate the factor contribution degree and ∑ I ij  ωi
i¼1
the index deviation. The factor contribution degree indicates
the degree of influence of a single factor on the overall goal, This paper further uses Yi to analyse the degree of negative
which is represented by the weight (ωi) of the single factor; the influence individual indicators pose to achievement of the
index deviation degree (Iij) represents the gap between the overall goal, that is:
individual indicator and the water ecological security and
health goal, which is set as the difference between the Y i ¼ ∑yi ð7Þ
2780
The original data comes from China Environmental
Yearbook, Anhui Statistical Yearbook, Anhui Provincial
Environmental Statistics Bulletin, Anhui Water Resource
Bulletin, Hefei Statistical Yearbook, and monitoring data re-
leased by the environmental protection department from 2010
to 2017.
Results
Overall evaluation results of water ecological security
and management performance analysis of municipal
river chief
To compare the water ecological security status before and
after the implementation of the River Chief System, it is
necessary to set the grading standard for the ecological
security comprehensive index value. This paper draws on
the relevant research of Chen et al. (2013) and Lu et al.
(2015) to determine the criteria for the classification of water
ecological security status according to the five grades of very
healthy, healthy, generally healthy, sub-optimally healthy, and
diseased, as is shown in Table 3.
After the weights of each index are determined, each eval-
uation index is synthesized into a comprehensive index of
ecological security layer by layer. As is shown in Fig. 4, the
overall water ecological security index of Chaohu Lake Basin
from 2013 (the year of implementation of the River Chief
System) to 2017 is higher performing than that before 2013,
and it reached the highest value of 0.58 in 2016. The rank of
water ecological security is raised from the lower limit of the
generally healthy to the upper limit of the generally healthy
grade. The results show that, as the person directly in charge
of the ecological security of Chaohu Lake Basin, the
municipal-level river chief has conscientiously fulfilled the
responsibility of river leader, continuously promoting the
management of the water ecological environment, greatly
Table 3 The division of the level
of water ecological security status Grade Water ecological
security index value
Very healthy 0.8–1.0
Healthy 0.6–0.8
Generally healthy 0.4–0.6
Sub-optimally Healthy 0.2–0.4
Diseased 0–0.2
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020) 27:2773–2785
improving the condition of the water ecological environment
in the lake area, and achieving certain positive effects on water
environment management. However, it cannot be ignored that
the status of general health indicates that there are still some
threatening factors in the water ecosystem. Therefore, the
municipal-level river chief should recognize the main obsta-
cles affecting water ecological security while seeking to main-
tain the current status of ecological security and continuing to
supervise relevant departments and subordinate river chiefs as
they perform their duties and improve the water environment
as a whole.
Water ecological security evaluation results
and management performance analysis of river chiefs
at the county (district) level
The comprehensive index value of the eastern half of the lake
in 2010 was 0.48; in 2011, it was only 0.39; the status of water
ecological security has improved and reached the status of
general health in 2012–2013. After the implementation of
the River Chief System, although the comprehensive index
value showed a certain degree of volatility and repetition, it
generally showed an increasing trend in volatility, reaching a
maximum value of 0.59 in 2016, close to the upper limit of the
status of general health. On the one hand, this shows that the
implementation effect of the River Chief System is not imme-
diate; on the other hand, it also shows that the river chiefs of
Chaohu City (D5) and Lujiang County (D4) have actively
carried out their responsibilities in the management of the
water environment since the implementation of the River
Chief System, and the state of water ecological security has
been obviously improved. The results also reflect that the river
chiefs of the Zhao River (R8), Zhegao River (R9), and Yuxi
River (R10), the tributaries of the eastern half of the lake, are
active in reducing pollution into the lake, implementing their
management responsibilities, strengthening the supervision of
law enforcement, and jointly promoting the comprehensive
State of water ecological security
Water ecosystems are structurally healthy,
functionally stable, and almost free of threats
The structure of the water ecosystem is healthy, the
function is basically stable, and the water
ecosystem has strong self-recovery ability
The structure and function of water ecosystem can be
guaranteed, but some threatening factors appear
The structure of the water ecosystem is fragile, the
function is not perfect, and the system is difficult
to restore if destroyed
The water ecosystem is about to collapse due to the
damage to its structure and function
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020) 27:2773–2785
Fig. 4 Comprehensive index
value of water ecological security
0.65
comprehensive index value
0.60
0.55
0.50
0.45
0.40
0.35
0.30
2010
management of the water environment in the eastern half of
the lake.
According to the comprehensive index of the western half
of the lake, this half had a value of only 0.4, indicating general
health, in 2010, and 0.44 when the River Chief System was
implemented in 2013. The comprehensive index value was
significantly higher in the years after 2013, except for a de-
crease in 2015. In particular, the index value reached the his-
torical peak of 0.50 in 2016, reaching the median status of
general health for the first time. The comprehensive index of
the western half of the lake showed an overall upward trend
from 2011 to 2017, but the overall improvement effect was not
as significant as that in the eastern half of the lake.
Considering geographical characteristics, the results are relat-
ed to the large number of tributaries in the western half of the
lake, the large discharge of sewage, and the difficulty of gov-
ernance. From the above analysis, it can be inferred that the
county (district) level chiefs of D1, D2, D3, and D4 and the
river chiefs of the corresponding tributaries (R1–R7) have
made their own efforts to implement the relevant policies of
the River Chief System, strengthening water management,
protecting water resources, controlling water pollution, and
maintaining water ecology, and have jointly improved the
water environment of the western half of the lake. However,
it is necessary to more effectively implement the River Chief
System, strengthen the comprehensive prevention and control
of water pollution, strictly monitor the discharge of water pol-
lutants, and jointly promote the improvement in the water
quality of the western half of the lake.
Discussion
Obstacles at different levels
It can be seen from Fig. 5 that the pressure layer is always
ranked as by far the highest obstacle in both halves of the lake,
followed by the response and the state layers. The pressure
index mainly reflects the influence of human living and
2781
Eastern half of the lake Western half of the lake Chaohu Lake Basin as a whole
0.59
0.54
0.53 0.58
0.48 0.47 0.53
0.48
0.45 0.45 0.50
0.46
0.43 0.41 0.44
0.43 0.43 0.44
0.41
0.40 0.39 0.40
0.30
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Year
production activities on the water ecological security, and
the pressure layer represents the greatest obstacle to ecological
security, indicating that human pressure, including water re-
source demand and water pollutant discharge in the process of
industrialization and urbanization, as well as natural re-
sources, are the key factors affecting the water ecological se-
curity of Chaohu Lake Basin. Compared with the study of
Wang et al. (2011), which simply attributed the ecological
pressure of Chaohu Lake Basin to the pollutant discharge of
some rivers in the upper reaches, this study is more compre-
hensive. The response layer reflects the active measures taken
by human beings to improve the state of water ecological
security. In general, the obstacle posed by the response layer
in both halves of the lake decreases with fluctuations, but
since the implementation of the River Chief System, it has
not been significantly reduced, and there is even a small in-
crease in the eastern half of the lake. This shows that the river
chiefs at all levels still have much to improve in terms of water
environment management and law enforcement supervision.
The state layer always represents a relatively small obstacle in
both halves of the lake, which indicates the stable physico-
chemical state of the lake ecosystem.
The pressure layer represents an obstacle to a similar
level in both the eastern and western halves of the lake,
indicating that both halves of the lake face the same dis-
turbance and destructive pressure of human activities,
such as industrial and agricultural pollution under rapid
urbanization. Controlling these activities will be key to
achieve the overall water security of Chaohu Lake Basin
in the future. However, the response layer represents a
significantly higher obstacle to ecological security in the
western half of the lake than in the eastern half, and this
conclusion is consistent with the findings of Shang and
Shang (2007). Combined with the analytical results that
the water ecological security status is worse in the western
half than in the eastern half of the lake, this indicates that
for the governance of the lake area, the river chiefs at all
levels in the western half of the lake and the river chief of
all upstream tributaries need to be more active in
2782
Fig. 5 Analysis on obstacle
factors of criterion layer in eastern
and western halves of the lake
improving the water environment management and pro-
moting the healthy development of the water environment
in Chaohu Lake Basin.
Obstacle factors of a single index
It can be seen from Table 4 that the main factors affecting the
ecological security status of the eastern half of the lake in 2010
are in the response layer and concern the water conservancy
law enforcement supervision expenditure (I26) and artificial
afforestation area (I23); this reflects the lack of water environ-
ment supervision and management. After the implementation
of the River Chief System, the primary obstacle factor gradu-
ally changes to the industrial water use intensity (I16) of the
pressure layer, while the artificial afforestation area (I23) is
still the second obstacle factor. With the development of ur-
banization around Chaohu Lake Basin, the increase in indus-
trial water use and the lack of greening and afforestation con-
stitute the leading factors affecting water ecological security.
In addition, the negative influence of the total nitrogen content
of the eastern half of the lake (I20) gradually becomes prom-
inent from 2015 to 2017, ranking among the top 3–4 obstacles
to ecological security. The nitrogen and phosphorus sub-
stances in the eastern half of the lake exceed the standard,
causing the water quality deteriorates and eutrophication to
occur, and this obstacle has gradually become an important
factor affecting the ecological security of the eastern half of
the lake.
Considering the value of the degree of different negative
factors, the degree of water conservancy law enforcement su-
pervision expenditure (I26) gradually decreased, from 12.41%
in 2010 to 5.75% in 2015, and this factor was no longer a main
obstacle in 2017. The results show that the water conservancy
law enforcement in relevant departments is becoming increas-
ingly strict, and it is no longer an important obstacle affecting
the water ecological security of Chaohu Lake Basin.
However, the negative impact of industrial water use intensity
(I16) gradually increased, from 8.24% in 2010 to 13.21% in
2016 and became the largest obstacle for three consecutive
years from 2015 to 2017. The results show that industrial
development around Chaohu Lake Basin has become the most
important obstacle to the ecological security of the eastern half
of the lake in recent years.
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020) 27:2773–2785
As can be seen from Table 5, the first obstacle affecting the
ecological security of the western half of the lake during the
study period is the wetland area (I2). The second was the water
conservancy law enforcement supervision expenditure (I26)
before the implementation of the River Chief System, but this
factor was replaced by the urban domestic water use intensity
(I15) after the implementation of the River Chief System and
gradually dropped in the rankings to the sixth factor in 2017.
The results show that after the implementation of the River
Chief System, the supervision of water conservancy law en-
forcement in relevant departments has been strengthened, and
the obstacles to water ecological security have been reduced.
Accordingly, with the acceleration of urbanization, the urban
domestic water use intensity (I15) has become an important
obstacle to the water ecological security of the western half of
the lake. In addition, since the implementation of the River
Chief System, the artificial afforestation area (I23) and com-
prehensive soil erosion control area (I24) of the response layer
have risen to become the third and fourth obstacles, respec-
tively, affecting the ecological security of the western half of
the lake. The above results point out the direction for the work
of the county (district)-level river chiefs in the western half of
the lake area and show the need to strengthen the work in two
aspects: artificial afforestation and comprehensive soil erosion
control. Although this study and Yu et al. (2011) both divide
Chaohu Lake Basin into eastern and western halves to explore
the obstacles affecting water ecological security, there are ob-
vious differences between them: on the one hand, Yu et al.
(2011) only identified the pollution sources of eutrophication
in Chaohu Lake Basin, while this paper examines the synthe-
sis of 26 indicators, including the degree of eutrophication; on
the other hand, each study covers a different research period,
so their conclusions are not the same.
Conclusion and policy implication
As an important institutional innovation to solve the complex
water problems and maintain the ecological security of rivers
and lakes in China, the River Chief System attempts to match
the water environment management to the achievements of
the main leaders of the local party and government, providing
a new solution for the management of the water environment
in river basins and enriching the practice of river basin water
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020) 27:2773–2785 2783

Table 4 Main obstacle factors of

ecological security in the eastern Year Ranking 1 2 3 4 5 6
half of the lake
2010 Obstacle factors I26 I23 I16 I24 I7 I18
Degree of obstacle factors (%) 12.41 10.03 8.24 7.32 7.14 5.98
2013 Obstacle factors I7 I16 I18 I1 I20 I26
Degree of obstacle factors (%) 10.21 10.07 7.85 7.29 7.11 6.90
2015 Obstacle factors I16 I7 I20 I18 I23 I26
Degree of obstacle factors (%) 11.62 8.18 7.94 7.25 7.10 5.75
2016 Obstacle factors I16 I23 I20 I18 I26 I12
Degree of obstacle factors (%) 13.21 9.08 8.70 7.64 6.52 6.43
2017 Obstacle factors I16 I23 I7 I20 I1 I18
Degree of obstacle factors (%) 12.01 11.90 10.46 7.65 6.87 6.32
b
In order to clearly show the effect of the River Chief System, only the obstacle degrees of the top 6 single
indicators affecting the water ecological security of Chaohu Lake Basin in the first year of the research period, the
year when the River Chief System was implemented and the last 3 years after the implementation of the River
Chief System are listed in the table

management. Through the establishment of an evaluation in-
dex for water ecological security and the diagnosis of negative
factors based on the PSR model framework, this paper ana-
lyzes the performance of the River Chief System and the weak
links in the river chiefs’ work. The research results show the
following: (1) Since the implementation of the River Chief
System in 2013, the comprehensive index value of the overall
water ecological security of the eastern and western halves of
the lake is better than that before 2013, and the water ecolog-
ical security of Chaohu Lake Basin has been raised from the
lower limit to the upper limit of the generally healthy status.
(2) The comprehensive index of water ecological security in
the eastern and western halves of the lake increased as a
whole, but the overall effect of the comprehensive index of
water ecological security in the western half of the lake was
not as obvious as that in the eastern half. (3) The pressure layer
has always been the key obstacle in both halves of the lake,
followed by the response layer and the state layer, and the
obstacle degree of the pressure layer is much higher than the
degrees corresponding to the response layer and the state lay-
er. (4) There are obvious differences in the obstacle degrees of
the single index between the eastern and the western halves of
the lake. The obstacle degree of industrial water use intensity
in the eastern half of the lake gradually increases, and it be-
comes the first obstacle factor for 3 years in a row from 2015
to 2017. For the western half of the lake, the wetland area has
always been the first obstacle factor affecting ecological secu-
rity, while the urban domestic water use intensity, the artificial
afforestation area, and the comprehensive soil erosion control
area have gradually risen to become the second, third, and
fourth obstacles to the ecological security of the western half
of the lake.
According to the above research, river chiefs at all levels in
the Chaohu Lake Basin can plan the key points for further
work and improve their efforts according to the situation of
their own regions. (1) For the municipal-level river chief of

Table 5 Main obstacle factors

of ecological security in the Year Ranking 1 2 3 4 5 6
western half of the lake
2010 Obstacle factors I2 I26 I15 I23 I1 I24
Degree of obstacle factors (%) 14.04 10.59 10.13 9.99 9.10 7.44
2013 Obstacle factors I2 I26 I15 I1 I24 I7
Degree of obstacle factors (%) 14.98 10.12 9.99 9.75 9.69 8.89
2015 Obstacle factors I2 I15 I23 I24 I26 I1
Degree of obstacle factors (%) 15.12 10.71 9.64 9.62 9.62 8.99
2016 Obstacle factors I2 I15 I23 I24 I26 I1
Degree of obstacle factors (%) 17.08 12.43 11.27 10.83 10.35 8.56
2017 Obstacle factors I2 I15 I23 I24 I1 I26
Degree of obstacle factors (%) 15.63 11.29 10.82 9.83 9.60 8.95
c
In order to clearly show the effect of the River Chief System, only the obstacle degrees of the top 6 single
indicators affecting the water ecological security of Chaohu Lake Basin in the first year of the research period, the
year when the River Chief System was implemented and the last 3 years after the implementation of the River
Chief System are listed in the table
2784
Chaohu Lake Basin, the key points are to pay attention to the
obstacles to the water ecological security in each layer of
Chaohu Lake Basin, establish a long-term mechanism to alle-
viate the threat of the pressure layer to water ecological secu-
rity, and improve the system to ensure that the county (district)
level of river chiefs perform their duties and form a joint effort
to improve the water environment via the respond layer. (2)
For the eastern half of the lake, industrial development has
become the main threat to water ecological security.
Considering that the basin area is dominated by the resource
processing industry, the proportion of the coal chemical indus-
try is relatively high, water consumption, energy consump-
tion, and pollution are relatively high, and the corresponding
river chiefs of Chaohu City should strengthen the control of
the total amount of industrial water consumption, determine
the demand based on the quantity of water available, improve
the utilization rate of industrial water, enhance the awareness
of water conservation among enterprises, and create a good
environment for the development and utilization of water re-
sources. (3) For the western half of the lake, the economy of
Hefei City in the basin has recently developed rapidly, the
urbanization process has accelerated, and the pollution dis-
charge load has increased. This has reduced the wetland area,
increased the intensity of urban domestic water consumption,
reduced the artificial afforestation area, and reduced the com-
prehensive treatment of soil erosion; therefore, these factors
have become the leading obstacles to water ecological securi-
ty. The corresponding county (district) level of river chiefs of
the western half of the lake should start by addressing the
cause of the reduction of the wetland area, strictly control
the reduction caused by economic activities such as land rec-
lamation and infrastructure occupation, reasonably control the
water resource consumption, improve the water resource uti-
lization efficiency of urban residents, coordinate and cooper-
ate with the forestry departments of each city, and increase the
proportion of artificial afforestation area and the comprehen-
sive treatment of soil erosion.
There are many different types of rivers and lakes facing
different problems in China. The River Chief System is a new
concept and method to solve the current river and lake man-
agement problems. By June 2018, 31 provinces, autonomous
regions, and municipalities directly under the central govern-
ment across the country had established the River Chief
System. The River Chief System can be fully established
and implemented following its performance evaluation and
the analysis of relevant obstacles, which can provide sugges-
tions for the relevant river chiefs’ work. This paper is expected
to provide a reference for the implementation and manage-
ment of the River Chief System in other areas, and the relevant
governance experience can provide a reference for the man-
agement of air, soil, and other environmental fields. However,
there are still some limitations in this study. (1) In the process
of assessing the water ecological security of Chaohu Lake, we
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020) 27:2773–2785
only divided the lake into eastern and western halves but did
not distinguish the performance of different county level rivers
in the same half of the lake or separately measure the pollutant
emissions from tributaries into the lake to distinguish the man-
agement performance of the corresponding township level
river chiefs. (2) According to the responsibilities of the
River Chief System, their management assessment should be
multidimensional, and water ecological performance is only
one item for assessment. A more comprehensive assessment
of the River Chief System can be the entry point for future
research. (3) This paper is a case study of Chaohu Lake Basin,
and the relevant conclusions are only applicable to Chaohu
Lake Basin. However, with the development of the River
Chief System, when there are enough relevant sample data,
we can consider using an econometric model with the River
Chief System as an independent variable to validate the gen-
eral research conclusion of the marginal effect of the River
Chief System.
Funding information This study was financially supported by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.
71871082.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
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